Whether She Knows it or Not
by Coilerfan35
Summary: My extension of the critic in the cabernet. A little story set after booth wakes up after surgery


**AN: This is going to be a relief for a lot of people. lol. I'm working on my punctuation - making sure that I add all the periods blah blah blah**

**This is my tag for The Critic in the Cabernet**

**This is an extension of what happens after Boothy-Boy gets out of surgery**

**So enjoy**

* * *

He slowly opened his eyes; the room he was in was unfamiliar. Everything was dark, and when his blurred vision subsided he remembered.

He was in the hospital, just waking from surgery. A surgery that he had to go through because, he had a brain tumor.

Damn tumor, screwing with him in the middle of an interrogation…

He came out of his revere when he heard something. It was raspy, and very jagged, like someone crying. His moved his hand and found something wrapped around it.

"Booth?" he heard quietly.

He painfully turned his head to see Bones, his Bones. He gave her a faint smile "Hi Bones," he whispered quietly.

The first thing that caught his eye was her eyes. They were wet, covered from tears. Her cheeks were moist from where the tears trailed down her skin…her beautiful alabaster skin…and that gorgeous mouth of hers was parted in an attempt to slow and steady her breathing.

"Why are you crying?" he asked concerned "Did something go wrong?"

She shook her head "No," she said, brushing a stray tear away with her finger "Everything went fine. It's just…" she averts her eyes and looks to her lap.

"Bones," he rasps "What's wrong?"

She shudders and sighs "It's just…all of the what if's, I can't get them out of my head. What if I brought you to the hospital sooner…what if I never took you to the hospital in the first place…what if this tumor killed you…"

"Temperance," he interjects.

She shivers and brings her eyes to his, melting into his heated brown gaze.

"Don't beat yourself up about this," he whispers.

"Booth," she begins "I am sustaining no injuries, let alone ones that have been self inflicted."

He chuckles, and winces slightly in pain.

"Are you in pain?" she asked immediately.

Booth shook his head "What I mean, is, don't worry about what could have happened. Focus on what's real, what's in front of you."

"You have learned a lot from me over the past four years Seeley Booth," she whispers quietly, a sweet smile spread across her lips.

He smiled at her, but frowned when her smile disappeared and her gaze fell to her lap again.

He sighed "I should have known better then to tell you to just forget thoughts. Nothing ever leaves your brain," he said quietly

She chuckled half-heartedly "I just don't know what I would do…if you got sick, or…died…I wouldn't know how to live with myself; knowing that I could have some something sooner, that could have stopped it," she choked out, a single tear dancing down her skin.

Before he could say anything, she spoke quietly "Do you remember when you said that if I was scared, I could hug you. And then if you were scared, you could hug me?"

He chuckled and nodded, pain shooting up his neck. He leaned on his right arm and moved over in the hospital bed as far as he could.

"Booth…" she began but he silenced her.

"Come on," he said patting at the space beside him.

She hesitantly looked at the vacant space, before climbing up next to him.

"What now?" she asked, managing an amused laugh behind her tears

He chuckled and wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, careful not to disturb any of his IVs.

She rested into his arm and laid her head on his shoulder, resting her forehead in the crook of his neck.

He felt tears moisten his shoulder, and ran his hand up and down her back rhythmically "It's ok to cry Temperance," he whispered into her hair, her beautiful dark brown hair.

She grasped his shoulder and chest tightly and snuggled closer to him, her breathing doing a crescendo from ragged to full sobs. Her shoulders shook under his hands, and she felt him put light pressure on her back to try and steady her shaking.

He laid his other hand over hers and squeezed reassuringly; he rested his head against hers and pulled her closer, whispering quiet, reassuring words into her hair.

She snuggled her nose into his neck, the faint smell of his cologne taking the sickening sterile smell from her nose. "If you ever scare me like that again," she whispered quietly "I will make your life…a living hell."

He chuckled and placed a feather-light kiss to her forehead "I would never purposely scare you Bones," he whispered

His lips pressed to her skin made her heart skip a beat. She heard it beat in her ears and wondered if he could hear. Her eyes grew sore from crying, and from not sleeping in the past 24 hours; so naturally, she closed her eyes, snuggling closer to him, and fell into the deepest sleep of her life.

He noticed her sobs receded, and now her breathing was quiet and slow. He glanced down to her and smiled, she had fallen asleep. He tightened his grip around her shoulder and took his time to remember what she looked like at this moment.

He was never given the opportunity to see her asleep, or well, not for long at least, her face was calm, like she had never seen or experienced the evil of the world. He desperately wished that she never had to go through the hell that she did, but decided, that if she didn't, she would have never become a forensic anthropologist, in turn never being his partner, in turn never being the love of his life.

At least he could admit to himself…now if only he could get up the courage to tell her out loud.

He waited for her to turn over in her sleep, to turn away from him, but much to his surprise she didn't. He always believed that the truth comes out when you aren't in your right mind – whether that be when you are drunk, or when you are asleep.

He memorized every aspect of her in sleep, from the calmness of her face, to her proximity to him, to how her hand rested right over his heart.

A shiver snuck down his spine when she moved her head to breathe on his neck. The hairs on his arm and neck stuck straight up, and he chuckled slightly, wondering how the woman could manipulate him even while she was asleep.

He looked up when a nurse walked into his room and placed her hands on her hips. "Mr. Booth you know that its past visiting hours and others aren't allowed into the patients beds."

He gave her his signature puppy dog eyes look and sighed "Isn't the whole purpose of a hospital to treat the sick and injured and make them feel better?"

"Yes it is Mr. Booth but-"

"But, I'm not 'sick' anymore, but I am still healing. And having my girl sleeping next to me makes me feel just that much better, which means I am closer to leaving the hospital and getting out of your hair," he said with a smile.

The nurse sighed and chuckled "You have a gift their Mr. Booth," she said "Ok, I will let it slide tonight."

He smiled "Thank you." He said quietly, his fingers tangling themselves in her hair.

"I'm going to give you your pain and anti-inflammatory medication, so you should be drowsy and falling asleep in the next half-an-hour," the nurse said messing with one of the liquid pouches that where hooked to the IV sticking in his arm.

"Ok," he said "Thanks."

"She's a pretty one;" the nurse said "She's lucky to have a man like you."

"Well the truth is, I'm lucky to have her," he said, running his hand down her back.

The nurse chuckled and gave him a smile before walking out of his hospital room.

He sighed and looked down to the beautiful woman asleep in his arms. His heart almost broke in two when he finished his sentence "Whether she knows it or not…"


End file.
